'Tomb Raiding' Just the Tip of the Iceberg

One culprit was a woman working for a subcontractor keeping the cemetery tidy in 2009.

The theft of brass and bronze plaques, statues and crosses from graves in the Pionierspark cemetery is just one example of the vandalism rife in Windhoek.

Mathilda Moncho of the municipality says other cemeteries around Windhoek are also being pillaged by people selling any metal objects as scrap.

Even the artificial turf on some graves is being stolen, she says.

"We are appealing to people to please refrain from using artificial turf on graves and also to rather stick to marble or granite gravestones," she says.

There are security guards at the cemeteries around the clock, but because they are public places, nobody can be refused access and it's tough to prevent theft.

Moncho also shed more light on the theft of the so-called Barella Angel, a life-size bronze statue of a woman on the grave of Ludwig Barella (1878 - 1951) in the old part of the Pionierspark cemetery.

She said the culprit was a woman working for a subcontractor keeping the cemetery tidy in 2009.

When the woman was leaving the cemetery pushing a wheelie bin, a security guard became suspicious and stopped her.

When they looked inside the bin they found the sawn-off bronze statue. The woman was arrested and the statue cemented back in its place.

The three bronze springbok statuettes that used to delight visitors to the Zoo Park in Independence Avenue were removed by the municipality about two years ago and placed into safe storage.

"They were damaged almost on a monthly basis and had to be repaired by the City of Windhoek at great cost, as children and adults were using them to sit on," says Justine Valindi of the municipality.

"Attempts had also been made to steal them. They are now in storage and the City is looking at ways to securely place them back at their rightful place."

The City of Windhoek maintains 27 playgrounds all over the city and its suburbs. Many of the playgrounds are being vandalised and have to be repaired regularly.

"We get money from the community in the form of rates and taxes and that money we plough back into the community with the building of playgrounds and the same community destroyed and vandalises them," says Moncho.

She adds that the money used to repair the playgrounds could be used to build new ones in suburbs where there are currently none.

"The playgrounds are there for children to play in and not for adults to sit and drink in," she says.

"The community must take ownership and look after their playgrounds."